Cameron: Cool Britannia is so yesterday

David Cameron will tomorrow make a pitch to steal the 'grey vote' from Tony Blair by accusing him of excluding the elderly from his Cool Britannia campaign.

The Tory leader claims the Prime Minister's bid to promote Labour as the party of the young has contributed to prejudice against older people and lessened their chance to contribute to the economy.

In a speech on the elderly tomorrow, Mr Cameron is expected to say: "I want to challenge the assumption that older people are stuck in the past - that they resist change.

"Sometimes politicians add to this stereotype. Tony Blair did with the Cool Britannia episode.

"Only the new, the young and the modern could be part of the picture of Britain he wanted to paint. It was absurd. He even said, 'This is a young country'. It isn't.

"Grey power"

"The fact is we are an old country - with our best years ahead of us. That's how I see Britain and it's how I think older people see themselves."

Mr Cameron wants to challenge 'the cult of youth which sees older people as a cost, not a benefit to society'.

If people over 50 who wanted to work could find jobs it could boost the economy by up to £30billion a year, he will say, adding that unpaid work by the elderly, such as picking up grandchildren from school or voluntary work, is worth another £24billion a year.

And he will argue that older people are often more 'future-oriented' than the young, who are obsessed with the present, saying: "Older people think about their grandchildren and their community, and how to improve it."

Mr Cameron's speech marks the outbreak of a fierce new battle between the parties for the so-called 'grey vote'.

In 2001, for the first time, there were more Britons aged over 60 than under 16, and the 11million post-war 'baby boomers' are coming up to retirement. Today, one person in six is aged 65 or over. In 30 years, it will be more than one in four.